Busy months in CISV Norge

It has been a while since our latest publication on this blog, but here we are with a new article!

As you can imagine if you are also involved in CISV Norge, these last months have been quite busy from our side, full of new experiences and learning opportunities.

The first event of 2018 was the January Meeting, during which the national board and national committee members gathered for two days to work together and discuss the upcoming tasks of the national level.

At the beginning of February, Ciro and I had our mid-term EVS seminar in Oslo. This seminar was a great opportunity to discuss our EVS experience so far, to see again many of the volunteers that we had met during the on-arrival seminar in Balestrand, but also to meet many more EVSers volunteering in different parts of Norway.

Just a few days later, we were off to our first national training seminar of the year: the Staffs’ Training Seminar (STAS). This training event, which took place in Oslo, aimed at preparing future staffs for their upcoming adventures at the different international camps taking place in Norway.

In March and April, it was time for the Leaders’ Training Seminars (LTS). As you can guess, the objective of these training events was to prepare the leaders for their forthcoming adventures at different CISV camps around the world. Three LTS took place this year, two around Oslo and one in Bergen.

In addition to being part of the staff groups, Ciro and I were in charge of organising and running different sessions at STAS and at the three LTS, which was a great opportunity for us to apply what we had learned during TTT while supporting the national committees responsible for these seminars 🙂

STAS and LTS were not the only events taking place in March and April though.

Just before Easter, I have also been part of the staff of the National Junior Camp (NJC). This camp took place in a nice cabin in the middle of the mountains in Mjølfjell and welcomed future Seminar Camp participants as well as other juniors.

After the Easter break, I have also been part of the staff of the first Step Up Delegates’ Training seminar (SUDT) of this year. This training event welcomed Step Up leaders and delegates and was a good opportunity for them to get to know each other better and to get a first taste of the Step Up experience.

The following weekend, an important meeting for CISV Norge took place in Sarpsborg: Landsmøtet. During this meeting, discussions on the internal working and on the future of CISV Norge took place, important decisions were made and new national board members and national committee chairs have been elected for the upcoming CISV year starting on August 1st.

In addition to all these seminars and other events, Ciro and I have also experienced our first Norwegian winter in Oslo, which turned out to be quite long this year, but also beautiful as you can see on the pictures below.

Vigelandsparken

Grünerløkka

Norsk Folkemuseum

Akerselva in Grünerløkka

Akerselva next to Maridalsvannet

Another new experience for us was the 17th of May, the Norwegian national day! Just like we expected, the city was full of flags, people wearing national costumes (the traditional bunad), ice cream and hot dog stands. The traditional children parade took place as well, passing by the royal palace where the king and queen of Norway were waving from the balcony.

This EVS year is coming to an end in less than two months already, but it doesn’t feel to me like the end of the adventure yet, since I will be staffing my first CISV Village this summer! If you’ve already been to a CISV camp or are joining one this summer, you can probably imagine the excitement 😉 If not, I can only encourage you to try 😀

This is all from my side. I wish you all a great summer and I invite you to stay tuned for some news from the next EVSer at CISV Norge who will be starting in August.